1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to dispensing equipment and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an integrated tubing assembly for a beverage dispenser with a plurality of integrally linked tubes for delivering fluids therethrough.
2. Description of the Related Art
Beverage dispenser systems often dispense a beverage flavored syrup mixed with either plain water to form a drink, such as punch, or carbonated water to form a carbonated drink, such as cola. Beverage dispenser systems often include cooling units for cooling plain and carbonated water as well as beverage flavored syrup prior to forming a desired beverage in that it is highly desirable in the industry to serve carbonated drinks at the coldest temperature possible.
Typically, beverage dispenser systems feature separate lines for passing plain water, carbonated water, and beverage flavored syrup through a cooling unit to cool each respective fluid prior to beverage formation. A plain water line delivers water from a plain water source, such as a public water line, across the cooling unit to a beverage dispenser system's dispensing valves where water is typically combined with beverage flavored syrup to form a drink. A carbonated water line delivers carbonated water from a carbonator, across the cooling unit to the dispensing valves where carbonated water is combined with beverage flavored syrup to form a carbonated drink. Accordingly, a beverage flavored syrup line delivers beverage flavored syrup from a beverage flavored syrup source, across the cooling unit to the dispensing valves. It should also be added that beverage flavored syrup and plain water are often at ambient temperature prior to entering a beverage dispenser system.
Current cooling unit design, however, does not uniformly cool each respective fluid prior to entering the dispensing valves. In particular, for example, beverage flavored syrup is more dense than plain water and, thus, requires a longer cooling period to obtain a desired temperature than plain water to reach that identical temperature. As such, current cooling units do not compensate for this longer cooling period for denser fluids when cooling the plain water line, the carbonated water line, and the beverage syrup line therein. Consequently, warmer beverage fluids greatly compromise the beverage formation process and, ultimately, the overall taste of a desired beverage. For example, warmer beverage flavored syrup or carbonated water induces excessive, unwanted foaming while a desired beverage is being formed at the dispensing valves. Thus, in addition to making an unsightly mess, excessive foaming gives rise to unfavorably "flat" tasting carbonated drinks.
Accordingly, there is a long felt need for uniformly cooling each fluid within the plain water, carbonated water, and beverage flavored syrup lines prior to entering a beverage dispenser system's dispensing valves to enhance the process for forming a desired beverage dispensed therefrom.